High School Scientist
by HaibaraDaiFan
Summary: A new case has arrived at school for first-year Kudo Shinichi. AU.
1. The Case

Chapter One: The Case

The sun shone brightly through the windows lining the outside-facing wall of the classroom. Rays of light revealed the particles slowly floating about, normally unnoticed by the human eye. It was a hot summer-like day, a general feeling of lethargy contagious in the school. The heat wave permeating the walls had little positive effect. The room's occupants had been roused out of their daydreaming state to view the front of the room. Something like the effect of an ice cold drink.

Her name was Tanaka Emi. Or so it was according the chalkboard she stood in front of. She had short, strawberry blond hair and bluish-green eyes that seemed a bit less than welcoming. However, beyond her stone-cold expression, I noticed that her fingers were twitching about the handle of her school bag. She held her head high, her chin jutting out just slightly. It reminded me of Sonoko. There was a certain poise about her, a mask of confidence that made me double-check for the nervous signs coming from her fingers. The teacher raised her paper up to the board, glancing back and forth from her writing to the paper. With a small nod of approval to herself, the older woman (though she's probably only in her thirties) turned back toward the new student.

I could hear the subtle shifting of fellow students in their chairs. It was as if they were all slowly returning to consciousness after surviving the first half of the week, sweating bucketfuls and taking home large stacks of homework thus far. I could sympathize. Even I had been feeling the all-encompassing tiring of the hot days and long classes. So much so that I had put my case-searching on pause. But in front of us stood someone new, someone interesting. She wasn't exactly hard on the eyes, either.

If anyone in Teitan high could pull of the school uniform, it was this girl. (If Ran asks, I never said that.) I hear the teacher going on about being nice to foreigners and that she had just recently moved from overseas. Tanaka-san's eyes roam the room casually in silence, and for a moment, her gaze settles on me. I feel an unwanted heat rise to my face as our eyes lock for an uncomfortable amount of time. Seeing a flicker of recognition in her eyes, I blink to confirm that I wasn't just imagining things. However, her gaze breaks and she turns to the teacher with perfect timing.

"Tanaka-chan, would you like to introduce yourself?" I wait with a strange sense of anticipation for her to open her mouth and speak.

Twenty long seconds pass as she simply stares at the teacher. Her eyes betray nothing. No anxiety, fear, or uncertainty. But what intrigues me further is that it reveals no kindness, no sweetness, no sense of endearment. No hatred. No anger. Just... like a void. It sent a shiver down my spine.

Our teacher, Kouda-sensei, laughed nervously to herself. _Way to handle the situation._ "Ah, well, you can take the empty seat behind Mouri-san. Mouri-san, would you please raise your hand?" I raise my eyebrows as Ran raises her hand, a peaceful smile on her face.

I bet she's all giddy about having a new student sitting near her. That was something that I liked about Ran. She was always so kind and willing to help. (Again, I never said any of that.) The class watched as the new girl, Tanaka-san, took her seat behind Ran. Every pair of eyes was deadlocked on her swift, easy movements. She set her bag down and straightened in her chair, staring ahead. I wonder if her eyes are still vacant.

Most first-years who had always been in the school district with the same friends and cram school were still nervous and self-conscious. She seemed to be emitting the very opposite. Yet it wasn't until the attention returned to the front of the room that I noticed her fingers stop twitching. I smirked. Deciding I wouldn't be able to observe anything useful until break, I pulled out my Sherlock Holmes book and hid it behind my science textbook and began to read.

* * *

"You better not have your eye on the new girl." The ever-familiar hiss of Sonoko's voice assaulted my right ear. Discretion wasn't her forte. I catch view of her signature hair flip out of the corner of my eye.

"Shut up." I muttered in a carefree manner. Neither of us really meant much harm to each other, but Ran's best friend could be really annoying when she felt like it. Of course, she was by extension, my friend, too. Sometimes I didn't care to claim that, though. Her light brown hair swished as she snapped her head up, giving me full view up her nose. Gross. I wondered if she realized how unladylike she as for an heiress.

"Hmph." I could still see a bit of a sparkle in her eye despite the attitude of contempt she was giving me. Suddenly her expression completely transformed to one of excitement and she spun around.

"Ran! We should check out that new cafe after-" Ran was turned halfway in her chair, clearly engaged in some sort of conversation with the new student. Sonoko pulled a chair up to the group and completely inserted herself with no invitation. That was Sonoko for you. Tanaka-san's eyes flick toward her momentarily, then return to Ran. I felt that familiar stirring inside – like when there was a case or a mystery just waiting for me to solve. Her eyes showed no interest in _anything._

I refrained from mimicking Sonoko's actions, straining to hear the new girl's voice. So far, the only time I had witnessed anything but void was when she looked at me. Her eyes widened just slightly and her lip twitched. Her lungs expanded and I can only guess it was an inaudible gasp. It felt, to me, that she had recognized me. Then she just looked back at the teacher with the same empty stare from before. Had I just forgotten who she was? Maybe if I could just hear what voice belonged to her I could remember...

"Yo, Kudo!" I grimace. It was yet another kid from the field. Don't get me wrong, I really did enjoy playing soccer with them and all, but this was important. He was ruining my chances at quickly solving this case. My eyes darted from Sanada-san to Tanaka-san and back. Seeing the bright smile on his face, I knew it was going to be impossible to ignore him.

He had short, slightly messy jet black hair and grayish colored eyes. Already, he had a slight grass stain on his pant's left knee. Sanada was a dedicated player, and didn't always take the extra time to change into his gym clothes before playing.

"Sanada!" I tried in vain to keep the annoyance and mild anger from my voice. The girls' voices were low now, and his obnoxious shuffling toward my desk filled my ears. He stole the chair in front of me and straddled it backwards, his arms crossed on my desk.

"Me and the guys thought maybe-" I clenched my teeth.

"Idiot! I don't have time to play around right now." Why couldn't he just understand the importance of what I did? I clicked my tongue when I looked over to see that the group of girls had already disappeared. So much for casually listening in. I did notice, however, a few remaining students give me looks of disdain. I might be the savior of the Japanese police force, and the pride of Teitan High (previously the pride of Teitan Junior High), but a lot of my classmates don't really care for me in person.

Upon seeing the dejected look on Sanada's face, I immediately felt a slight sense of guilt. Another, very strong, part of me justified my outburst. No one understood the importance of my actions and they always just ruined it. Now they were gone and this would take even longer for me to figure out. For once, I opened my mouth, trying to reconcile.

"Look, Sanada, I-" My words were cut off as Sanada stood abruptly, his arms removed from my desk.

"It's cool. Whatever, man." I frowned. His tone certainly didn't seem to match his words. Neither did his actions, as he turned on his heel and made long strides right out the classroom door. The room fell silent. Good a time as any to go get something to eat from the cafeteria.

Sanada would get over it. I had a case to solve – the case of the ice cold drink in the swelling summer heat.

* * *

It's not perfect. But I like it a thousand times better than my other numerous attempts. Any first thoughts? I thought I'd try Shinichi's perspective, but I can't say that it'll stay that way. Review if you think this is worth my time in finishing. I'll take a minute to think about another chapter for my other fics, btw. :)


	2. The Distraction

Chapter Two: The Distraction

"...remember?" I blinked, realizing I had completely tuned Ran out. I placed my hands behind my head in a carefree manner. Her glare wasn't getting any kinder.

"I have a lot on my mind. Soccer, Sherlock Holmes, being the best detective in Japan..." We were walking home from school after I had finished soccer practice (which seemed to contain a lot less teamwork from the others than usual...). Ran had been waiting for me, though probably not long since I could see the beads of sweat still on her forehead from karate practice, and she was breathing faster than normal. Her practice clothes were in a bundle, carried with her school bag.

As we took the familiar path toward her father's detective agency and subsequently her home that wound through the suburbs and into the city, I silently prayed that practice had gotten all of her angry karate energy out. She huffed and I stiffened, still appearing outwardly carefree. For the next few seconds, it was only the crunch of tiny pieces of gravel against pavement from our footsteps and the ever-present song of cicadas.

I risked a glance at my childhood friend. Thankfully, she had turned her attention away from me, looking ahead. Some of her bangs were clinging to her forehead from the heat. Her hand reached and lifted her long hair off of her neck for a moment, revealing even more sweat-soaked hair. It was beyond me why she wouldn't just put her hair up, as she would for practice.

She caught me staring. I swallowed, looking quickly up at the sky, hoping she wouldn't notice the red coming to my face. Silence.

"So I still haven't heard about your dad actually solving any cases." It just came out of my mouth. It was one of the things I knew for certain that would tear her attention away, that would cause her to immediately drop any investigation on the blushes that were starting to become normal on my face. I was supposed to be a cool detective, not some loser who gets all caught up and confused by his friend just because she's a girl.

The sweltering heat dropped several degrees with the glare that Ran gave me, and I knew I had little time to pacify the situation before she threw punches. I debated dodging them like usual or apologizing, but the latter wasn't my style, as I'd demonstrated earlier in the day already.

Right as Ran began to bring back a fist, I saw it. The distraction.

"Hey. Isn't that Tanaka-san?" The fist stopped inches from my face, and despite the sweat dripping from my temple, I had anticipated her to react at such a time. Ran was predictable like that. Either way, my attention, as well as Ran's, was now on Tanaka Emi, the transfer student.

She stood at an intersection ahead, ignoring the green light as it flashed on, signaling her to cross. Her eyes were steady, watching us as we approached. Other students crossed, blocking our view of her for a few seconds. Once they passed, she was still standing there, staring. Something about it made me feel uneasy. Her eyes were captivating, like they held some sort of spell or something. Of course, I usually spared my fairytale-like stories for Ran when she was scared. I wasn't a fan on using them on myself.

The sun glinted off the red color in her hair, bringing it out much brighter than it had seemed in the classroom. Just as we got within a comfortable distance, Ran raised her hand to wave a greeting. As if it were a cue, Tanaka spun on her heel, taking quick, easy strides across the walkway as the sign flashed its final warnings. Her foot touched the other sidewalk landing just as the sign forbid further crossing and allowed traffic through once again. The cars passed and we lost sight of her.

"Tanaka-chan..." Ran muttered next to me, a frown on her face. I didn't like it when she frowned. In the mean time, I pushed the button to cross. Once. Then twice. I glanced back up where the girl had vanished. It shouldn't be too hard to catch up to her, as long as she didn't take... any turns at all. I sighed. "She must not be good at making friends." Ran commented further, a troubled look on her face.

"Really? I didn't get that vibe at all." I said, sarcasm evident in my voice. Evident to me, at least. Ran looked up, her eyebrows knit together in sincerity.

"Yeah. She didn't really talk much to Sonoko or me. She listened, though. It just felt like she wasn't really engaged. You know? Like she'd look at us when we spoke, and sometimes give a nod or something, but I don't feel like..." Ran shook her head. "What am I saying? Anyway, I hope she makes friends here."

I smiled to myself. Sometimes Ran got it. She just never knew that she did. All her self-doubt and second-guessing made her a bit adorable, but I found it disheartening that she'd stop right before getting it. Maybe some day she'd be a good detective if she'd just follow through on those thoughts...

* * *

"Sanada?" I called, soccer ball tucked underneath my right arm. I was in my uniform, sweat forming on my forehead already. We had just begun a practice game when Sanada let the ball go way out of field. He left after a brief wave, calling to us that he'd get it. The team took a collective break, drinking from the water bottles we had prepared. I noticed Sanada change directions after reaching the top of the hill, and thought it unlikely that the ball had gone any further.

After a good ten minutes, the team sent me to go find him. I was beginning to sense some hostility anyway, so I went without complaint. Lo and behold, the soccer ball was still where I had determined it most likely to have ended up. Now I was searching for our missing player where I had seen him walking off.

I sighed, starting to feel annoyed by this whole ordeal. If he didn't want to practice, that was his problem. Why did we have to be dragged into it? I have better things to do with my life than run after a soccer player with a passive aggressive attitude. I began to make my way toward the storage sheds, where we kept our equipment. They were located the furthest from the main school buildings, the last place anyone felt like walking. We'd made Sanada put up our equipment the last few practices, but he hadn't seemed that upset about it. I wondered absently if he was trying to get back at us by having us search for him so friggen far away.

"Then you like science, too?" I heard Sanada's voice, noting the sweetened tone. I slowed, trying to keep my steps light. It came from behind the second storage shed, out of three that were neatly lined twenty feet apart in front of the back chain-link fence, separating the school's property from the miniature forest growing beyond it. The sounds of cicadas grew to almost defeaning. I strained to catch the conversation.

"Yes. I find it intriguing. You said you plan on focusing on such a field in college?" I found myself holding my breath, peering as discreetly as I could around the corner of the face of the small building. Sweat dripped down the side of my face.

I didn't recognize the girl's voice, but when I finally got a glimpse of her hair, I knew exactly who it was. The way the sun brought out the red tones was unmistakable. _So that's what she sounds like._ Sanada gave a nervous chuckle, and kicked lightly at the ground with his cleats. A small cloud of dust resulted.

"Yeah, that's the plan so far. But I'd be fated to be some dork, you know? So soccer is my ticket into the cool club. Who knows? Maybe if I focus on it enough, I'll do that instead. Science is a good hobby, and neat and all, but it's social suicide in school. I'm not cut out to be a nerd." The tone in his voice had dropped to one of slight self-deprecation. I dropped to a squat, moving closer and getting a good view of both of the participants in the conversation. I had no idea Sanada cared about going into a scientific field, but if that was his plan, he might as well resign from the team and stop dragging us along in his weird social game. He wasn't that great, anyway.

I flinched when I saw the scowl on Tanaka-san's face. Her eyes were unforgiving as her mouth opened to speak words I was already certain were going to be harsh.

"Then give up your ideals about science. It is not something you're worthy of." With that, she turned her back on him and began walking away. I gaped for a moment, but realized I should probably get out of sight and inched backwards.

"Tanaka-chan!" Sanada called, his voice hitting a whiny pitch. I knew there was something I didn't like about that kid. She stopped, making my heart do the same. I hoped if I stayed still long enough, no one would feel like looking in my direction. I was just inches from making it all the way back around the corner and safe from their view. Her skirt spun with the abruptness of her turn. Now her face was just as stone-cold as normal, and her tone was flat and unfeeling.

"You aren't qualified to speak with me any longer, Sanada-san, nor to address me in such a manner." I swallowed. A stray thought almost brought a giggle to my throat – Sonoko must be deemed 'qualified' to speak with her. That girl didn't understand a lick of science, though. I began to ponder why this girl had such an obsession with science (especially when she looked bored out of her mind in that particular class, although I must note that she looked bored all the time), and why she had such a princess-like attitude.

My train of thought was broken by the end of their tense silence and she once again turned and walked away. This time, Sanada said nothing to retort. I waited until she was far enough away and stumbled to my feet, sounding like I had just run up to this point.

"Sanada, you back here?" I yelled for good measure, forcing a pant or two and swinging my head around wildly. The sweat collecting on my skin was authentic enough.

"Kudo..." He said, not with much enthusiasm. I turned toward him dramatically, like I wasn't expecting him. He still didn't seem thrilled. In the least.

"Hey man, you just walked off..." I held the ball out to him, trying to play it cool. He shrugged, taking the ball from my hands and walking slowly toward the field. I thought to ask him what was wrong, but decided that even if I hadn't been here I still didn't and wouldn't care. We returned to the field in silence, and practice continued.

The entire time my mind was distracted, though. Why did Tanaka-san act like she recognized me? If she was a fan, certainly she would've tried to talk to me, but she always disappeared before I could talk to her. Being such an introvert, why would she take the time to talk to a loser like Sanada? I knew for certain now that I didn't know her. Her voice, her face, nothing about her was familiar. Nothing.

For me, this case was getting much more complicated. And interesting.

* * *

It might seem like I'm getting off to a slow start still, but you shouldn't be surprised when plot stuff starts exploding. Because I do that. :)

**knightfell** - Thank you! I'm glad it caught your interest, and good call, here's Sanada again :) Hope to hear from you again!

**chey721** - Thanks! Glad you liked it :)


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